Directions: Standard notation for triangle ABC is used throughout. Use a calculator and round off your answers to one decimal place at the end of the computation.

Charlie is afraid of water; he can?t swim and refuses to get in a boat. However, he must measure the width of a river for his geography class. He has a long tape measure but no way to measure angles. While pondering what to do, he paces along the side of the river using the five paths joining points A, B, C, and D. If he can?t determine the width of the river, he will flunk the course.

(a) Save Charlie from disaster by explaining how he can determine the width AE simply by measuring the lengths AB, AC, AD, BC, and BD and using trigonometry.

(b) Charlie determines that AB = 75 feet, AC = 25 feet, AD = 90 feet, BC = 80 feet, and BD = 22 feet. How wide is the river between A and E?

Transcribed Image Text:

E A B D E A B D

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

aHaving the length of the sides of triangles Consider triangle CAB and ... View the full answer